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E2B Alternative: Run Coding Agents on Your Own Mac
E2B is agent infrastructure: an API and SDKs that start a fast, isolated Linux VM in their cloud so code your agent generates can run somewhere that is not your machine. Open source under Apache 2.0, with 13,000-plus stars on the core repository.
Updated
E2B is cloud infrastructure you call from code: a Linux sandbox per agent, created by API, billed by the second. Forkbench is a Mac app you open, where your own coding agents run on your own repository, each Thread holding the job's folders, keys, notes and board. Different problems, and E2B is right for its one.
Read this before anything else, because most people searching for an E2B alternative want another sandbox provider and should go and find one. E2B is developer infrastructure: you install an SDK, hold an API key, and it starts an isolated Linux VM in their cloud so untrusted or generated code can run away from your machine. Forkbench is not that and cannot replace it. What Forkbench answers is the other reading of the same search, the one where you did not actually want a cloud in the loop, and what you were looking for is a way to let coding agents work hard on your own Mac without them being able to reach what they should not.
| Forkbench | E2B | |
|---|---|---|
| Why people look | Want their own agents working on their own Mac, without a cloud in the loop | Building a product that has to run generated or untrusted code |
| What it is | A Mac app you open | An API and SDKs you call from your code |
| Where the code runs | On your Mac, on the repository already checked out | A Linux VM in E2B's cloud, or your own cloud account |
| Isolation | Kernel-enforced folder scope per Thread, plus one-click git worktrees | A full VM per sandbox, which is the stronger boundary |
| Credentials | Vault (Pro): the command gets the value, the agent gets the result | Whatever you put into the sandbox environment |
| What survives | A board and notes per Thread, through quit and reboot | Sandboxes pause and resume; sessions are capped at 1 hour (Hobby) or 24 hours (Pro) |
| Who it is for | A developer running Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI or Aider on their own work | A team shipping agent infrastructure to their own users |
| Open source | Closed | Apache 2.0, 13,000+ stars, infrastructure code public too |
| Platform | macOS 13+ | Any language with an SDK; the sandbox itself is Linux |
| Price | Free; Pro €30/mo; Team $30/seat, dropping to $20 at scale | Hobby free with $100 credit, then usage; Pro $150/mo plus usage |
Where E2B is strong
- It is genuinely the thing it says it is: "a fast, secure Linux VM created on demand for your agent, which you can pause and resume as needed". If you are shipping a product that runs code your users' agents generate, you want a sandbox, and this is one of the good ones.
- Open source and inspectable. The core repository is Apache 2.0 with more than 13,000 stars, and even the infrastructure that powers their cloud is public.
- It scales the way infrastructure does: up to 100 concurrent sandboxes on the $150-a-month Pro tier, with extra concurrency purchasable to 1,100, and a Hobby tier that starts free with $100 of usage credit.
- You can run it in your own account. They support your AWS, GCP or Azure, your VPC, and bring-your-own-cloud or on-premise deployments, which matters when the code being run is somebody else's.
- Real breadth of use: deep research agents, data analysis, reinforcement learning and computer use, not just coding.
Where Forkbench differs
- It is an app you open, not an API you call. Your agents run in real login shells on your own Mac, against the repository already checked out there, with nothing to provision and no per-second bill.
- The boundary is the job. A Thread holds its own plan, its own notes, its own keys and its own people, and can be locked to the folders that job is about, applied as each shell starts and inherited by every process it spawns.
- Put the key in Vault and the command that needs it receives the value while the agent receives the result, so the key stays out of the prompt, the command line and the transcript. It is containment rather than a guarantee: a command you authorised can still print what it was handed. Vault is part of Pro.
- A key is locked to its destination when it is created, and an agent cannot change that later. Forkbench restricts which hosts a key may reach, and blocks and logs the rest.
- The work survives the session. A board per Thread outlives the pane, the app and the reboot, so a second agent picks the job up from where the first one left it instead of from an empty sandbox.
The bottom line
If you are building something that runs code you did not write, stay with E2B or look at another sandbox provider: a VM per run is a stronger boundary than anything a desktop app can offer, and E2B's is open source and deployable into your own cloud. Forkbench is the answer to a different sentence that gets typed the same way, which is that you want your coding agents to work flat out on your own machine and you would rather they could not reach the keys, the folders or the other jobs they have no business in. If that is the search you were really making, start with the free tier and the Thread will make the rest obvious.
E2B questions
Is Forkbench an E2B alternative?
Only for one of the two things people mean by that search. If you need cloud sandboxes your product creates by API, Forkbench does not do that and E2B is a good choice. If what you wanted was your own coding agents running on your own Mac, against your own repository, with a boundary around what each one can reach, that is what Forkbench is for and no cloud is involved.
Can I run agents locally instead of in an E2B sandbox?
Yes, and that is the normal case for a developer working on their own code. In Forkbench each agent runs in a real login shell on your Mac, gets its own git worktree in a click so two agents never edit the same file, and can be locked to the folders its job is about, enforced by the macOS kernel as each shell starts and inherited by everything it spawns.
What does E2B cost compared with Forkbench?
E2B's Hobby tier is free with a one-time $100 of usage credit, then usage-based, and Pro is $150 a month plus usage, with concurrency limits of 20 and 100 sandboxes respectively. Forkbench is a flat subscription with a free tier: the app and the notes are free, and Pro adds Vault, Talk and working across more than one Mac.
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Comparison based on publicly available information, checked on the date above. Spot something out of date? Tell us.